Monday, October 22, 2012

logging

The logs are done at the mill and oh are they pretty boards. We had the poplar milled into 5/8 of an inch boards for use as subfloor deck boards on the porch. We will plan to use some as siding as well. The hackberry we had milled into one inch boards for use as kitchen shelves. The white creamy look of the hackberry’s tight graining is accented with black streaking. It is a beautiful wood that could almost be mistaken for maple. I have made chair legs from hackberry and I have found it tricky to work with due to the way the grain often twists from one direction to another. The twisting makes it difficult to produce a consistent and smooth product but the frustration is worth the effort once completed.

We will plan to stain the poplar a nice warm color to blend the house into its forest surroundings and the hackberry will most likely receive a good coat of mineral oil to fully the wood and draw out it’s accents. Choosing the right product to apply to wood is just as important as selecting the type of wood. For instance we just applied a coat of original Bree Wax to our pine french doors. Considering that the doors will have some degree of potential to experience weather it was important to choose a wax based product to repel the water. The Bree Wax offers protection and warmth to the otherwise plain wood. We will choose mineral oil for out butcher block oak slab counter bar because it is food safe and offers some moisture protection. The oak is already naturally rich in character and so an application of Bree Wax would actually hide the wood as opposed to distinguish it as the Wax did with the door.